One of the first people I spoke to when I learned about this Jacmel deployment was Bob Davisson, a retired RCMP officer from Medicine Hat, Alta. It wasn't a strategic decision on my part - Bob just happened to be the first Canadian with roots in Jacmel that answered the phone in the frenzied days after the earthquake.
At the time, he, like me, was trying to figure out how to get to Jacmel. With no international airport (at least not an official international airport) and the roads from Port-au-Prince blocked, the route in was anything but clear.
Bob runs a network of about 20 schools and orphanages across southern Haiti as part of his charity, Lifeline Haiti, and has had an ongoing presence here since around 2005. He was worried when I first spoke to him about the conditions at his outposts, which 4,500 children rely on.
When I finally arrived a few weeks ago, Bob was one of the first people I called. He met me at the tiny Jacmel airport wearing a T-shirt with his charity's logo on it and a pair of blue camouflage pants that I've come to learn are part of his personal uniform here. He had deep lines of worry - but also determination - etched in his face. For days, he told me, he'd been wrangling with a mess of officials in Port-au-Prince and the United States over a collection of shipping containers filled with food and other aid items he was trying to bring to Haiti. It is part of his charity's policy, he told me, to physically shepherd aid sent from abroad to their intended destinations in Haiti to ensure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
The destruction in Port-au-Prince - both of buildings and the country's government - made it tougher than usual to figure out how to clear the way for the goods' arrival. Over the past two weeks, Bob made several trips into Port-au-Prince only to return frustrated and empty-handed, but more determined than ever.
A few days ago (after he told port workers in Port-au-Prince that he would sleep on their doorstep overnight if they didn't release his containers) his work finally paid off. The containers were released and dozens of locals were commandeered to help truck the aid containers to the Jacmel area and unload them ( see Bob's blog for details on all of it).
For the first time in weeks, I ran into Bob, who looked relaxed and relieved.
That look didn't last for long.
Two days ago, a truck delivering aid supplies was speedily making its way along the winding road to Chabin (you can locate on map here). The driver lost control of the loaded vehicle and slammed into a group of people before hitting a tree along an embankment, pinning Guerlin Polo, one of Bob's Grade 4 students.
The force of the accident cut her body in half, Bob told me. A group of locals from the area, including many students, witnessed the horrifying accident, which ultimately killed two people, injured three more and left one of Bob's Haitian friends with a deep machete cut on his calf that required 60 stitches, he said.
In the aftermath of the accident, Guerlin's anguished father hacked in anger at the truck with a machete, and the blade flew out of his hand, striking Bob's friend.
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In a small gesture of condolence, Bob's charity is going to pay for the funerals, which will cost about $1,000 each.
On his blog, Bob declared the day "one of the toughest days yet in Haiti."
Follow his work at lifelinehaiti.com
Project Jacmel: Visit the main project page with stories, video, maps, photo galleries and more.